Various devices to assist in the aiming of firearms are well known in the art. Such devices include the use of light beams to indicate when the weapon is correctly aimed at a target. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 689,547, 894,306, 1,149,705, 1,452,651, 1,826,004, 1,993,979, 2,017,585, 2,884,710, and 2,912,566. These patents propose clamping a light source with lens, reflector, power source anti an on/off switch to a handgun. Similarly U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,010,019 and 3,974,585, French Pat. No. 1,015,421, British Pat. No. 5029, Swiss Pat. Nos. 29,708 and 66,753 and German Patent Publication 1,926,337 propose incandescent lamps for providing aiming points on a target or optical sight.
With the development of gas discharge lasers comparable in size, ruggedness and power requirements to an incandescent lamp, such devices have been proposed for use as a marksmanship trainer, weapon simulator, bore sighting device for firearms and similar applications such as proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,633,285, 3,782,832, 3,898,747, 3,938,262 and 3,995,376. Laser assisted aiming devices have been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,079,534, 4,152,754, 4,161,076, 4,168,588 and 4,212,109.
While these devices have been effective for their purpose they are subject to certain deficiencies which have generally limited their use to special areas, such as competitive marksmanship and the like. Many of the devices are bulky or have exposed wires so that when attached to a hand weapon, the aiming device prevents the weapon from being carried in a holster.